Letters: Hard work and determination aren't in style

The Kennedy family immigrated legally in the early twentieth century only to be met with scorn for their Irish heritage. Like all other Irish people of the day, they worked at low-level jobs before figuring out a way to rise up in their section of Boston and capture politics. The government didn't level their playing field.PHOTO GALLERY BY BETTY TALBERT & KYLE INFANTE, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

IRVINE, Rosemary LaBonte: In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama characterized the choice as one between whether “a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of Americans barely get by” or his own vision -- “where everyone gets a fair shot.”

How ridiculous is that statement. Everyone who has ever been born in this country in the last 250 years has had a fair shot. It’s what they did with that shot is what made the difference and very few, if any, made it on socialist policies. The majority of a “shrinking number of people” as Obama puts it, started off poor as church mice and through plain old hard work and determination, became successful at whatever their dreams drove them to do and they did it without government interference or subsidy.

In a random cross section of American life in all categories such as politics, sports, music or pop culture, there is probably not one name that became wealthy on “leveling the playing field.”

For instance, just pull a few out of the hat:

The Kennedys got off the boat (legally) in the early 20th century to be met with scorn for their Irish heritage. Like all other Irish people of their day, they worked at low level jobs before figuring out a way to rise up in their section of Boston and capture politics. The government didn’t level their playing field.

Michael Jackson sure didn’t start off as the “King of Pop.” He was the eighth of 10 children in an African American working-class family who lived in a small three-room house in Gary, Indiana. He often has said his father's strict discipline played a huge role in his success. The government didn’t level his family’s playing field.

Mickey Mantle came from Commerce, Oklahoma where his father worked in lead and zinc mines. After a brief slump in the majors, Mantle was given a stern message from his father that since baseball didn’t seem to be working out, then maybe Mantle should return to Oklahoma and work in the mines with him. That alternative made Mantle immediately brake out of his slump and went on to become the highest paid active player of his time. The government didn’t level his playing field

Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco to two university students who were both unmarried at the time. He was adopted at birth. After high school graduation, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon where he dropped out after only one semester. However, he continued auditing classes. Jobs credits his dropping in on a calligraphy course in college with the Mac’s multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. He would go on and change the way we all communicate in this world. The government didn’t level his playing field.

The point is that “fair shot” usually comes down to what kind of choices people make for themselves. If it’s a life time of bad choices and laziness, then chances are that “fair shot” given to each American at birth is going to put them in the “growing number of Americans barely getting by.”

When our country accepts Obama’s suggestion to “level the playing field,” what type of people will we have lost in the process? What will our children eventually turn into when working for success is not in style -- something to be ashamed of if they happen to want to run for office.

Entitlement is killing European countries, and it will have the same effect on this country unless Americans start cherishing and learning from those who have succeeded financially in our country and begin to apply it to their own situation -- all without having the government level their playing field. [More letters on the president's State of the Union address]

The global warming facts

LA HABRA, Scott Wilson: I am 54 years old, a chemical engineer with more than 25 years experience working in the field of air pollution and I am writing about the political indoctrination of our country’s youth. Having read Nathalie Sandoval’s letter “Improving our world” [Feb.1], I can’t help but wonder how an 11-year-old’s impressionable young mind can have such staunch convictions on a subject as complex as anthropogenic (man-made) global warming.

One would hope that a charter school such as El Sol Academy would break away from the political indoctrination so prevalent in the media and public school system. I truly hope that Sandoval and her classmates learn the facts of chemistry, physics, geological history and politics as they make their way through high school and college. Once an understanding is attained on the subjects of the ice ages, solar cycles and the desire for control over society that governments strive for, the truth about claims of anthropogenic global warming be clear.

______

FULLERTON, Jim Kruse: I wonder if you will believe me when I tell you that when I was 11, back in 1966, I distinctly remember that the settled science was that the world was cooling and we were in danger of experiencing another ice age [“Improving our world,” Feb.1]. My sixth grade science book, written by the best scientific minds of the time, quoted facts based on extensive research that, by the late 1970s, the world would begin cooling dramatically. Indeed, it predicted that large parts of Canada and the northern United States would be iced over by the year 2000. Of course, none of this happened.

The fact is that the world gets cooler sometimes and warmer sometimes. Another fact is that we really can’t be sure why it is cooling or warming, or whether it really matters. Data indicating that global warming is caused by humans, and that C02 is the ultimate culprit in global warming have largely been proven to be the result of “junk science,” that is, “research” and “results” that are tainted by the political agendas of its purveyors.

I agree that we can all help to make the world a better place by taking your advice regarding recycling, etc. We can also make the world a better place by applying a little healthy cynicism toward the extremists in our society. The world existed for billions of years before we got here, and my guess is, that it will exist for billions of years to come. My advice to you is to use the education provided to you by the El Sol Academy to become a critical thinker, a challenger and not just a follower.

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The Kennedy family immigrated legally in the early twentieth century only to be met with scorn for their Irish heritage. Like all other Irish people of the day, they worked at low-level jobs before figuring out a way to rise up in their section of Boston and capture politics. The government didn't level their playing field. PHOTO GALLERY BY BETTY TALBERT & KYLE INFANTE, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Michael Jackson didn't start off as the King of Pop. He was the eighth of 10 children in an African American working-class family who lived in a small three-room house in Gary, Indiana. He often has said his father's strict discipline played a huge role in his success. The government didn't level his family's playing field. PHOTO GALLERY BY BETTY TALBERT & KYLE INFANTE, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Mickey Mantle came from Commerce, Oklahoma where his father worked in lead and zinc mines. After a brief slump in the majors, Mantle was given a stern message from his father that since baseball didn't seem to be working out, then maybe Mantle should return to Oklahoma and work in the mines with him. Mantle immediately broke out of his slump and went on to become the highest paid active player of his time. The government didn't level his playing field. PHOTO GALLERY BY BETTY TALBERT & KYLE INFANTE, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
After high school graduation, Steve Jobs enrolled at Reed College, where he dropped out after only one semester. However, he continued auditing classes. Jobs credits his dropping in on a calligraphy course in college with the Mac's multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. He went on to change the way we all communicate in this world. The government didn't level his playing field. PHOTO GALLERY BY BETTY TALBERT & KYLE INFANTE, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

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